# data[].attributes.body
TDAS New Teacher Collaborative Schedule (Click here to view)

# data[].attributes.body
Mentoring Through All Phases of First-Year Teaching

# data[].attributes.body
Contact Us: Teacher Development and Support (Click here)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It's no secret that when schools make a concerted effort to foster healthy, strong relationships with families, students benefit in a number of ways.

Studies suggest that parental involvement can lead to academic gains for students: higher grades and test scores, improved social skills and time on task, better attendance and participation, and decreased behavioral problems in the classroom.

But parent-teacher communication can be challenging, say teachers. In 2006, 50 percent of participants in a survey of more than 1,000 K-12 public school teachers rated parental involvement in their children's education as inadequate; 48 percent reported parental understanding of the curriculum similarly. And a 2016 study revealed that some of the largest barriers to productive parent-teacher communication were trouble getting to the school site, conflicting work schedules, lack of translation services, and consistent requests for donations or fundraising that seem prioritized over all else.

Though parent-teacher communication will always require a mutual effort on both sides, educators shared their best practices-from home visits to in-school parent workshops-for building strong bonds with families, from the first day of school to the last.

Getting Off to a Good Start

Establishing strong relationships and clear lines of communication at the beginning of the year sets a strong foundation for parent-teacher interactions, according to teachers.
© Shutterstock.com/Monkey Business Images
Opening reliable channels of communication: Not all parents communicate the same way. To determine a family's contact preferences, simply ask them directly, says Erin Healey, an English teacher in Rhode Island. Create a beginning-of-the-year Google Form, use an introductory phone call or email, or discuss the topic at back-to-school night. This is also a great time to learn what languages are spoken at home.

A personalized touch: When in-person parent meetings weren't possible due to the pandemic, middle and high school teacher Lauren Huddleston found that embedding short, introductory videos in emails was an effective alternative. The video format allowed Huddleston to virtually "share my personality and warmth with parents" at the start of the year, while also outlining the syllabus and explaining classroom expectations.

Your child, in a million words or less: Eighth-grade English teacher Cathleen Beachboard mails out a "Million Words or Less" survey asking caregivers to tell her everything she should know about their child, with a tongue-in-cheek word limit as the only restriction. Huddleston, meanwhile, distributes a survey to caregivers that is meant to capture their child's attitude toward the subject matter, their motivations, and how they might be feeling about the new school year.

Connecting outside the school walls: To kick off the year, preschool teachers from Educare New Orleans visit the homes of each family. During the visit, parents are asked about their strengths as a family and any goals they have for their child. Educators then help outline what can be done within their classroom to help the child meet and exceed those goals, as well as what families can do at home to help support their child's learning. They have a follow-up visit near the end of the school year.

Establish Back-and-Forth Communication

Two-way communication where parents can listen and receive information, as well as speak and be heard, ensures a healthy exchange of ideas that welcomes parents as partners in their child's education, says Beachboard.

Beyond bad news: Consider sharing regular information about how students are progressing and engaging with lessons at school. This is especially important for families that are newer to the country, as "teacher-home communication may be new and is likely to be reserved for bad news only," explains Louise El Yaafouri, an independent consultant in refugee and immigrant newcomer education.

Get active on social media: Healey recommends creating a classroom Instagram page or Twitter account to post photos and videos of student work, or emailing out a monthly or quarterly blog celebrating student successes and previewing upcoming curricular content for parents. This keeps families in the loop about what their child will be learning next and maintains positive communication with parents, she says.

Real-time tech tools: Platforms like Seesaw or ClassDojo allow kids to share their learning with their parents directly through the app and make real-time updates easier. "If you're in class and you're able to take a video of one of your scholars saying, 'Hi Mom! I'm learning about how to add numbers-10 and 5 makes 15. I'm going to practice tonight when I come home,' and then the [parent] gets to see, that's powerful," says Paul Bannister, a New York-based kindergarten teacher.

Give parents a nudge: Simple text reminders-sometimes called "nudges"-can help parents help their children stay on track. A Columbia University study, for example, found that sending weekly text updates to middle and high school parents about their children's grades, absences, and missed assignments led to an 18 percent increase in student attendance and a 39 percent drop in course failures. Beachboard says she personally utilizes the Remind app to keep families abreast of assignment due dates and bolster back-and-forth communication.

Bring the Parent Into the Classroom

Show off your families' strengths: Give parents a chance to highlight their talents, experiences, and skills to get them more engaged in the classroom, says education consultant and retired teacher Terri Eichholz. Eichholz created a Google Form where families could mention any skills that they might want to share with the class-which led to her finding a parent who was a drone operator. "[He] zoomed with my students (back before Zoom was a thing!), and we built an entire field trip around his expertise," she says.

Provide pathways for entry: At Educare New Orleans, teachers maintain a monthly calendar marked with days on which caregivers are invited to engage with their child inside the classroom. For parents who can't attend, there's a take-home activity that provides a similar experience.

Empower students to explain their best work: At Design 39 Campus in Poway, California, parents attend in-school workshops. During the first half hour, students are in the driver's seat, taking charge and explaining their work to their parents. The second half hour is reserved for parent-teacher communication-including a question-and-answer period-while students attend an elective, gym, or their lunch period.

Making your curriculum transparent: High school history and journalism teacher David Cutler posts two weeks' worth of lessons and assignments online. The practice provides transparency to families about what their children will be learning-and when- while also allowing him to carve out time to meet with students and parents as they prepare for more challenging assignments.

Reaching Every Parent Where They Are

Historically underserved families are often judged before parent-teacher communication even begins, says Angie Shorty-Belisle, school director of Educare New Orleans.

"The biggest mistake is to think, OK, we're at a school where we're servicing [underserved] families; they're going to be difficult parents," explains Shorty-Belisle. "Every parent is their child's first advocate.... No family comes in wanting to be a burden or difficult to the school."
©Nora Fleming
Redefine the perception of participation: Work schedules and transportation can be just as significant of a barrier to parent engagement as language, say teachers. "We often think of parent engagement as PTA, coaching the softball team, or chaperoning the middle school dance," says El Yaafouri, who recommends redefining family participation so that it's more inclusive. "Sometimes, engagement is ensuring that a child has a quiet place to study at home, or making the right calls to get ahold of school supplies, or sharing wisdom that is unique to one's lived experiences."

A more inclusive calendar: One way to show families of diverse learners that they are an important part of the community is by creating an inclusive school calendar at the beginning of the year, says El Yaafouri. Find out what holidays families celebrate-don't make assumptions-and be cognizant of not scheduling school events on days that might conflict, while creating opportunities throughout the year so that all students and families feel represented and valued.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teacher-Parent Communication Strategies to Start the Year Off Right

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By prioritizing communication with families at the start of the school year, educators can foster strong parent engagement, break down barriers, and provide support for all students.

# data[].attributes.body
Peer Observation Form: Use this resource to foster a supportive environment where teachers can observe and learn from each other’s classrooms without judgment. By promoting collaboration and reflection, we create a culture of continuous growth and shared learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If managed well, these teams can help teachers innovate in the classroom and improve student outcomes.

Bob Daemmrich / Alamy Stock Photo

Many teachers work to guide students to take academic risks that will help them learn. Can schools apply that idea to teacher learning as well?

The answer may be found in the collaboration achieved in professional learning communities (PLCs). PLCs-which harness "an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve"-are a common and proven practice to promote teacher collaboration that increases student achievement.

However, it is possible to fall into collaborative work that stifles innovation. This can happen, for example, if PLCs focus too heavily on common assessments and a common understanding of what students are learning, leading to common everything-students getting the same lesson plan in each class. I've heard administrators use the term "common experience" when setting expectations for teaching and learning. That strikes me as going too far.

Although this is grounded in wanting to ensure student success through consistency, it can stifle innovation, and one of the purposes of a PLC is to try out new strategies. The PLC is designed for teacher learning, and thus the team must balance risk taking and teacher autonomy with shared expectations for student learning. It's important that teachers in a team have that clear understanding of purpose so that everyone feels safe to take risks.

A learning team constantly engages in a cycle of learning: analyzing data, setting goals, and learning individually and collaboratively, as well as implementing and adjusting practices to meet the needs of all learners. This process allows teachers to try new teaching practices and discover what's working and what isn't.

Determining Common Learning and Assessments

In PLCs, the fundamental questions teachers explore are: "What do we want students to learn?" and "How will we know if they have learned it?" These questions are foundational to any PLC, as they require teachers to come to a common understanding of the learning as well as common assessments that check for understanding.

PLC make this happen by prioritizing standards using specific criteria and then unpacking those standards, analyzing the nouns and verbs in the standards to understand which skills and concepts students will need to learn in order to be successful. Teachers identify what is hard to teach and what is hard to learn in the standards so that they can anticipate interventions and extensions.

It's important to note that parts of this process call for tight alignment between teachers and don't allow for the creativity and autonomy teachers may be used to. In order to achieve success for students, we do need some common practices. However, by agreeing as a team on what should be tightly aligned, we can set the stage for teacher autonomy and exploration of the art of teaching and instructional practice.

Making Space for Innovation

A PLC is constantly trying out new strategies to improve student learning, so individuals within the team must be given space to innovate. This is where the PLC should be only loosely aligned.

Teachers can never know what teaching works best for their students unless they are given the freedom to try out new strategies. PLCs can make this happen by having teachers collect evidence from common assessments and using data protocols to determine which strategies were most effective.

Ensuring That Teams Work Effectively

Sam Kaner coined the term Groan Zone to describe the space between a problem being posed and a solution being reached, and he described the divergent and convergent thinking that occurs there. Sometimes teachers in a PLC are afraid to engage in conflict or explore different ideas, worrying that even productive conflict signals that one is "not a team player." Conversely, teachers may feel pressured to get work done and feel they don't have time to spend in conflict.

But productive conflict can allow us to build better ideas and stronger teams, and PLCs should embrace productive conflict and create a space for it in order to innovate. PLCs can make this happen with clear norms as well as protocols to ensure that all voices are heard and that it is safe to engage in this conflict. It's also helpful to make sure the projected outcome of a meeting is clear: Are we "generating ideas" or "making a decision"? This clarity can make space for open conversation.

PLCs need strong facilitators in order to engage in conversations that promote learning, risk taking, and innovation. However, the facilitators or leaders of those teams may be torn between advocating for ideas and managing the complex process of moving the team forward. This can lead to situations where team members have a facilitator who is strongly advocating for an idea rather than allowing for all voices to be heard, and team members may not feel safe to speak up or take risks. If facilitators need to advocate, they should select someone else to facilitate, in order to continue to balance advocacy for new ideas against team consensus and integration.

I recommend clear decision-making process like the Gradients of Agreement structure, which allows for decision making that honors the Groan Zone and divergent thinking while still moving toward convergent thinking and consensus decision-making.

PLCs are the lifeblood of innovation and risk taking in school. When structured well, they can be teams that constantly learn together and work to discover what is best for students.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If managed well, these teams can help teachers innovate in the classroom and improve student outcomes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Great Time Management Tools for Teachers - Educators Technology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Check out this collection featuring some of the best time management tools for teachers and educators!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Division of Risk Management and Insurance Services / Wellness

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Health and Wellness Programs by Provider
Wellness programs are designed to empower you on your health journey. Anthem, Health Net, and Kaiser offer programs and resources to provide a holistic approach to care. Whether you’re looking to enhance your physical health, manage stress, or create positive social habits, there are valuable resources available to support you. Remember, prioritizing your health and seeking reliable resources can make a significant difference to your overall well-being.🌿

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Formative assessment is a proven technique for improving student learning, and the strategies shared here by Jay McTighe work both in the classroom and remotely.

Bob Daemmrich / Alamy Stock Photo

Using formative assessments designed to check for understanding and provide students with feedback and support is one of the most effective ways to improve and enhance student learning. Yet because of the need to cover large amounts of information and develop many skills, teachers may not take time checking to make sure students understand a concept or can effectively apply a skill, and, if they don't, figuring out ways to improve their learning.

Thankfully, there are practical, proven formative assessment techniques that teachers can use as a quick "pulse check" to gauge students' understanding. The eight techniques here can be applied across grades and subject areas in virtual, hybrid, and in-person learning environments.

The results of these checks should not be graded since the purpose of formative assessment techniques is to obtain feedback to use in improving teaching and learning, not to evaluate learning. It's important that students understand the purposes of these techniques, that mistakes are OK-and even expected-and that they will not be graded on their responses.

Thumbs up: I understand _____ and can explain it in my own words.

Wave hand: I'm not completely sure about _____ and doubt I could explain it.

Thumbs down: I don't yet understand _____ and cannot explain it.

Ask students to display a designated hand signal to indicate their degree of confidence in their understanding of a concept, principle, or process. For example:

Self-assessment and self-reporting can be unreliable, so use a random calling technique to periodically select students with their thumbs up (e.g., pull names out of a bowl) and ask them to explain.

In virtual learning environments, students can signal on camera or post designated emojis to signal their understanding levels.

Present students with a few binary-choice statements or questions containing an understanding or a common misconception and have them select a response (e.g., True or False, Agree or Disagree) and share it via a whiteboard, cell phone app, or hand signal (e.g., thumbs up or down). This efficient technique is particularly effective to use in checking students' prior knowledge or potential misconceptions before beginning new instruction.

True/False: When dropped from the same height, a bowling ball will land before a marble.

Agree/Disagree: Is this an example of alliteration?

Here are a couple of "choosing" formats with examples:

In virtual learning environments, students can use the chat box feature to record their choices, or respond to a poll.

3. Picture It

Draw a visual web of factors affecting plant growth.

Develop a concept map to illustrate how a bill becomes a law.

Create a story map or sequence diagram showing the major events in the story.

Visual representations, such as graphic organizers and concept maps, are widely used to enhance learning, and can also be used as formative assessments. Have students create a visual or symbolic representation (e.g., a graphic organizer, web, or concept map) of information and abstract concepts and then be prepared to explain their graphic. Picturing techniques are especially useful to see if students understand how various concepts or elements of a process are related.

In virtual learning environments, students can post their visuals on a Google slide or Pinterest board, or in Nearpod or Jamboard.

4. Troubleshoot It

1. Identify the flaw or error, and (even better)

2. Correct it.

One of the most efficient and effective quick checks for understanding involves troubleshooting. Present students with a common misconception or a frequent procedural error. See if they can:

Present a rough draft of writing and ask students to serve as an editor to mark compositional and grammatical errors.

Have students review work on a multistep word problem to identify computational mistakes and reasoning errors, and correct them.

In a photography class, show photos reflecting common compositional errors or flawed exposure or lighting, and have students recommend needed corrections using photo editing software.

Their responses will provide a quick check of the depth of their understanding.

5. Summarize It

Compose a tweet in 280 characters or less answering the question: What is the big idea that you have learned about _____?

Record a one-minute podcast or vodcast using an app on a smartphone or tablet to summarize the key concepts from one or more lessons.

Prepare a weekly letter to your teacher (or parents) summarizing something that you now understand as a result of your learning during the past week.

Here are a few examples of this technique:

Create a "real life" word problem to see if other students understand how to calculate surface area.

Locate a news article or blog post that presents an example of the tension between individual rights and the common good.

Find examples of symmetry somewhere in our school or on the playground.

Understanding is revealed when students can transfer their learning to new situations. Accordingly, one of the best checks for understanding is to see if students can apply material in a somewhat novel context. This technique includes asking students to find or create new and novel examples to illustrate a newly learned concept.

Develop a five-minute lesson to teach a younger student about how supply and demand can affect the price of things. Use one or more specific examples that we have not discussed.

Your friend has been absent and missed the last two lessons where you learned about community helpers. Draw a picture of at least five helpers in our community to help them understand the concept of a community helper.

This is a more involved, but valuable, formative assessment technique. Ask students to teach a new concept or skill to someone else-a new student, a student who has just returned from absence, or a younger child. You'll be able to gauge their degree of understanding as you review or observe their lesson. Here are two examples:

In virtual learning environments, students can record a lesson using a laptop, tablet, or cell phone camera.

8. Analogize It

A more sophisticated technique invites students to develop an analogy or metaphor to illustrate a newly learned concept or skill. The effectiveness of their explanatory analogy or metaphor can give you insight into their understanding. However, be cautious when interpreting student responses to this technique-a student may very well understand a concept but be unable to generate an appropriate analogy. Asking students to explain their analogies will give you further insight into their understanding.

A fraction is a part of a whole like a wheel is a part of a bicycle.

Formative assessment is like tasting a meal while you're cooking because it provides feedback that a cook can use to make adjustments to improve the meal.

Here's a prompt for students: A _____ is like a _____ because _____.

Students can also create visual analogies (combining techniques 3 and 8). In virtual learning environments, students can post their analogies and metaphors in a chat box or on a Google slide or Pinterest board.

Note: Several of these techniques (especially 1, 2, 5, and 8) can be naturally used in conjunction with another popular formative assessment technique-an exit card-given to students at the end of a class period or end of the school day.

While these techniques can provide valuable information about the effectiveness of teaching and the quality of students' learning, they're not ends in themselves. Instead, they should be seen as the first step in a " feedback cycle." The next step is to act on that feedback-reteaching something that many students failed to learn; correcting misconceptions that may be revealed; and/or providing scaffolded support to students who need it. Moreover, when students are given feedback, they must also be given opportunities to use it, such as revising their work, practicing the skill, or correcting errors. (Getting feedback without a chance to use it is like eating without digesting!) Then, the formative assessment cycle reboots as revisions can be assessed again, with progress noted and new learning goals set.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Formative assessment is a proven technique for improving student learning, and the strategies shared here by Jay McTighe work both in the classroom and remotely.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Arts Education Branch is located in Los Angeles, California.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
P-12 Instruction is located in Los Angeles, California.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
P-12 Instruction is located in Los Angeles, California.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Back-to-School Checklist for Busy Teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Start this list now for a stress-free first day at school.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shelley Moore: Transforming Inclusive Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Simple Ways to Make the Most of a Check-In

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When done effectively, quick check-ins can help you better understand how your students are doing and strengthen your classroom community.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10-Minute Meditation For Beginners | Goodful

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to School Mental Health A Message from the Director
It is an honor to serve as the Director of Mental Health Services for Los Angeles Unified School District (LA Unified). What is mental health and why is it important? Mental health is described as the relationship between our thoughts, feelings, actions and experiences. It deeply influences how we see ourselves and often predetermines how we perceive and respond to life, people, settings, and situations.
School Mental Health is committed to disrupting the intergenerational transmission of toxic stress that impairs health and debilitates dreams. We promote healing across generations and throughout our system of education. How does School Mental Health deliver this work?
Intergenerational healing. We center ourselves on the understanding that healing occurs “forward.” Students may not be able to change their past, but when they are provided with strategies to process grief and traumatic experiences; improve their ability to bounce back in the face of adversity; build healthy relationships; and engage in self-care practices that restore and preserve health, they, and future generations, benefit. These benefits are not limited to our students. Parents and caregivers are afforded the opportunities to make the necessary changes to pass healing down to the next generation. Educators usher intergenerational healing forward by fostering belonging, and schools cultivate it through transformative practices.
Hope-Infused interventions.
Understanding the power of our work drives us to engage in hope-infused practices. Life is in the details. We mentor, counsel, link to resources, make daily observations and take note of small changes that may have significant implications. We launch school-wide campaigns, run groups, and facilitate workshops to foster connection and promote social emotional learning and education. We lead the nation by setting the bar with suicide prevention, threat assessment and management, and crisis response policies. We provide intensive interventions such as mental health evaluation, comprehensive case management and crisis response at critical instances when a student’s hope may be frustrated and their will to live might be depleted.
Collective Well-being.
We uphold the belief that wellness requires community. We build bridges on campus by nurturing school-wide activities such as ‘Say Hey’ day, create safe spaces through student-led clubs and Optimism Rooms, and by being an active liaison between our schools, students, families, and community partners. We Work for Impact.
In June 2022, the Office of the Inspector General performed an audit of School Mental Health; and in February 2024, UCLA conducted an analysis of PSW supports. Among the findings of both entities, School Mental Health services were correlated with the following: increased literacy skills; improved school attendance; increased graduation rates; decreased suspensions; and lowered school dropout rates. You may access our impact reports here.
We invite you to review our resources, increase your understanding of the supports that we offer, and learn how you might partner with us to link our students to care. Let’s make an intergenerational impact, together.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Positive Behavior Intervention and Support_RP / PBIS RP - Multi-tiered Integrated Strategies & Resou

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learning Continuity Plan and COVID Community Report